A few days ago, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers released the 2021 mainland automobile export data. According to statistics, in 2021, the mainland will export 2.015 million vehicles, accounting for 7.7% of total automobile sales, creating a record high for automobile exports, and more than 1 times higher than last year.
In 2021, when the epidemic is repeated, foreign trade encounters unprecedented challenges, and the global economy enters a period of turbulent change, setting a record high in automobile exports. Behind it is inseparable from the efforts of a group of domestic car companies that are committed to "going out".
SAIC Motor
Last year, SAIC motor sold 697,000 units in overseas markets, exported 598,000 units from China, and produced and sold 99,000 units at overseas bases. Among them, the overseas sales of the MG brand, the main sales force, reached 360,000 vehicles, becoming the champion of overseas sales of a single brand in China.
Its SAIC Passenger Cars won the championship of overseas sales of Chinese automobile brands in 2021 with the result of "290,700 units, an increase of 68%". It is understood that at this stage, the radiation range of mg brand has included more than 60 countries around the world, and has entered the top ten of a single brand in 17 countries around the world.
The reason why the MG brand can achieve good results in overseas markets is on the one hand due to its own British ancestry and high acceptance in overseas markets.
On the other hand, it is to seize the opportunity of new energy development and simultaneously launch new energy products overseas, including MG6 PHEV, pure electric MG EZS, MG pilot PHEV and other models, which have been recognized by local authorities in terms of hardware, of which pure electric MG EZS has become the first pure electric small SUV in Europe with E-NCAP five-star safety.
In order to further consolidate the "hegemonic" position of domestic car companies' exports, SAIC Motor has established overseas business targets for the next five years: that is, to impact 500,000 vehicles in 2020; to achieve 600,000 vehicles in 2022; and to achieve a milestone of 1 million vehicles by 2025.
The first two goals have been achieved, and according to this trend, 1 million sales in 2025 are also very promising.
Chery Automobile
Compared with the low profile in the domestic market, Chery can be described as thriving in the overseas market, and it has been selected as an automobile company in the "Top 20 Overseas Images of Chinese Enterprises" for five times.
It has invested in 10 production bases overseas and more than 2,000 dealers to achieve the layout of Russia, Iran and other markets, covering more than 80 countries and regions in Asia, Europe, Africa, Latin America and so on.
In addition to the sales ace Tiggo series (Tiggo 8 has also been named the SUV of the Year and the Best SUV in the authoritative overseas car selection software), its Jietuzi brand took the first step in the export of the whole vehicle in 2019. The Moon and Lingyun models of the Xingtuzi brand have also successfully entered the Russian high-end market.
And there is a point that needs to be explained that the price of Chery's overseas models is generally higher than that of the domestic version, and the side reaction chery's strategy of going out has achieved stage success.
In addition, for overseas exports, Chery also proposed the "Double 50" strategy, that is, it plans to export 500,000 vehicles by 2025, with an export volume of 5 billion US dollars.
Great Wall Motors
Great Wall's overseas sales exceeded 140,000 units last year, up 103.7% year-on-year. The haval and Great Wall pickup brands are the cornerstones of Great Wall in overseas markets.
Among them, the pickup truck series sold more than 40,000 units overseas last year. And its Great Wall Cannon has obtained a five-star rating under the latest A-NCAP standard in Australia, becoming the first Chinese automobile brand to receive a five-star rating under the new A-NCAP test standard.
The Great Wall is also one of the first independent car companies to go out, and its export history can be traced back to the 1990s. Up to now, great wall has sold more than 900,000 vehicles overseas and exported to more than 170 countries and regions.
In addition, with Baoding headquarters as the core, Great Wall has established overseas R&D centers in Frankfurt, Los Angeles, Yokohama and other places, forming 13 domestic full-process vehicle production bases, 4 overseas full-process production bases and 5 overseas KD factories.
Earlier, Great Wall Motors held the "Brazilian Factory Handover and Strategy Release Ceremony" in São Paulo, Brazil. According to the plan, the plant will start production in 2023 with an annual production capacity of 100,000 units.
In the next 3 years, 10 models of 100% new energy power products will be launched in Brazil, including 4 pure electric vehicles and 6 hybrid vehicles; more than 11.5 billion yuan will be invested in the next 10 years to deepen the local industrial chain and lay out ecological technology.
Geely Automobile
As for Geely, it only had an export volume of 110,000 vehicles last year, but in the foreseeable future, it is likely to become the pillar of its own brands overseas.
The reason is that it has a rich foreign investment foundation, and has successively "inserted" Volvo Cars in Sweden, London Taxi Company in the United Kingdom, Lotus Automobile in the United Kingdom, Proton Automobile in Malaysia, and Daimler Group in Germany. In this way, it can help it quickly deploy in overseas markets.
Just like the Lynk & Co brand with Volvo genes, it launched the "European Plan" in September 2020; in October, the first European offline experience store opened in Amsterdam; and in January 2021, the Gothenburg offline experience store was unveiled. Since 2021, several batches of the new Lynk & Co 01 PHEV vehicles have been exported to Europe.
Indeed, doubling the volume of exports is a matter to be celebrated, which also shows that the competitiveness of domestic cars overseas is increasing.
According to the "Report on the High-quality Development of China's Automotive Trade (2019)" commissioned by the Department of Foreign Trade of the Ministry of Commerce, the international competitiveness of China's automotive industry has surpassed that of South Korea in terms of indicators such as the size of the domestic market, the domestic market share, the cost level and the price level.
But it must be recognized that there is still a certain gap compared with Germany, Japan and the United States.
Moreover, the flow of exports is still dominated by developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, and most of the models exported are low-end models that cater to the needs of developing countries. The long-term introduction of low-end models to developing countries will lead to an imbalance in the structure of export products. Once the low-end models lose their cost-effective advantage overseas, it is easy to "lose overseas".
Therefore, a reasonable and sustainable export model should be, taking into account both developing and developed countries, low-end models and high-end models.
According to statistics, new energy vehicles accounted for more than 15% of the export volume of 2.015 million units last year, reaching 310,000 units, an increase of 304.6% year-on-year.
From an internal point of view, since the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, new energy enterprises have achieved unprecedented development, including the introduction of various welfare policies, which have directly stimulated consumers' desire to buy new energy models.
Since 2015, the sales volume of new energy vehicles in mainland China has been the first in the world. Although the gradual decline of subsidies will have a certain impact on sales, car companies are also making up for the price gap left by the subsidy decline by improving the level of intelligence of models and increasing the added value of the whole vehicle.
The medium-term goal of "2025 new energy vehicle sales in mainland China will reach 20%" proposed in the "New Energy Vehicle Development Plan (2021-2035)" is also expected to be achieved ahead of schedule this year.
From an external point of view, energy conservation and emission reduction is not only the goal of the mainland, but all countries in the world have to face, and countries are also continuing to increase support for new energy vehicles. In recent years, it can also be seen that more and more car companies have formulated a timetable for the full suspension of fuel vehicles. Therefore, new energy is no different from the well-deserved protagonist of the future automobile market.
Thanks to the strong support in the early stage, the mainland has established a relatively complete electric vehicle industry chain. At the same time, the fiercely competitive domestic new energy vehicle market has also increased the maturity of new energy vehicles.
At this stage, the independent brand new energy vehicles are at the world-class level in terms of intelligence, endurance and safety performance.
Therefore, compared with fuel vehicles, new energy models of independent brands have more sufficient confidence to enter developed countries. At present, the footprint of new energy models of independent brands has traveled through the United Kingdom, Norway, Germany, France, Belgium, Italy, Spain and Portugal.
And in addition to high-end electric vehicles to meet the high-quality requirements of consumers in developed countries, there are also low-speed electric vehicles that meet the low-cost needs of consumers in developing countries along the "Belt and Road".
Therefore, on the whole, the new energy models of independent brands are more competitive than the new energy models of overseas mainstream brands. New energy vehicles will also be an important weapon for independent brands to become the masters of one party overseas in the future.
Over the past 30 years, mainland enterprises have developed a three-step plan for the internationalization of innovation. The initial going out, the middle one walking in, the later one going up.
Going out refers to establishing a foothold overseas through shop-based overseas operations.
Going inside refers to promoting technology integration through connected overseas operations, and to integrate into the international market and do things in accordance with international practices.
Going up refers to promoting technology leadership through weaving-style transnational operations and becoming a leader in overseas markets.
At present, the pace of mainland independent car companies in overseas markets is different, some are still planning how to go out, some are moving towards the stage of going out to walking in, and some are in the stage of overcoming the most difficult to go up.
However, no matter what stage it is in, as long as we continue to work in overseas markets and gain influence in overseas markets, we can enhance the overall impression of domestic cars and truly promote the brand of domestic cars to the world.